


Tea Roses

by Ariss_Tenoh



Series: Les Fleurs [1]
Category: X -エックス- | X/1999, 闇の末裔 | Yami No Matsuei | Descendants of Darkness
Genre: Complete, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-26 19:17:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1699598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariss_Tenoh/pseuds/Ariss_Tenoh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You should know that death is not the end."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tea Roses

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on August 3rd 2005. Written for the "Parting" Challenge at the Togakushi Shrine comm.

  
**Tea Roses**  
By Ariss Tenoh

Muraki walked into his house and was surprised to find a man standing in his living room.

 

The man smiled.

 

He took off his trench coat and told Sakaki to bring tea. He turned to face his visitor and said, "Please sit down."

 

"Thank you."

 

His guest sat on the sofa. Muraki took the armchair opposite it.

 

"I must admit that I'm surprised to see you here." 

 

Grey eyes looked intently at the other man.

 

"Oh?" A soft not-quite-inquiry.

 

Muraki leaned back into the comfortable armchair. "I was out of the country, but I heard about what happened in Tokyo. At Rainbow Bridge." He didn't mask the questioning tone from his statement.

 

The sun was setting and the golden and vermilion light spilled in shafts via the garden's glass doors into the living room, making the room's occupants seem as if they were cast in dying colours. 

 

"It was inevitable," came the man's quiet words.

 

An audible sigh. 

 

"I have never understood your fascination with mortality. Death means _nothing_ to men such as we."

 

Muraki's butler entered before his guest could reply. The tea tray was placed on the mahogany coffee table which stood between them and Sakaki poured tea into fine china cups. The cups with their saucers were then placed before the men. He excused himself and left.

 

Steam rose in silent spirals into the air. Neither man spoke....

 

The man in black yielded and said, "If I thought you would understand, I would explain it to you." 

 

"That isn't why you are here though. What can I do for you, Sakurazuka-san?"

 

"A small favour." 

 

Sakurazuka put a piece of paper on the table and slid it towards Muraki.

 

A pale hand reached for the paper. 

 

The grandfather clock near the wall interrupted the silence with its ticks and swinging pendulum; the pendulum flashed golden whenever it caught the light.

 

"This is..?" Muraki looked at Sakurazuka.

 

"Yes. He's not doing very well. Perhaps a visit from a renowned doctor will help." There was a wicked smile on his face and the two men smiled as if sharing an old joke. 

 

"You're incorrigible, Sakurazuka-san." Muraki tucked back a stray strand of hair.

 

The sun had set. Darkness moved into the room. The servants would switch on the lights soon.

 

"Of course. Anything for an old friend." Muraki agreed amiably.

 

Sakurazuka's face grew solemn and the tension that threaded through his body since his arrival disappeared. 

 

"Thank you."

 

A smile twitched on the good doctor's lips. "Careful. That's twice you've thanked me now. My heart might not survive it."

 

Sakurazuka laughed. For a moment, he missed the look of unfeigned astonishment on Muraki's face. His one good eye gleamed like molten amber when he recovered from his amusement and he fixed a discerning gaze on Muraki.

 

"If only that were true. Your naysayers would have had an easier time dealing with you." It was said in good cheer and Muraki's smile had more feeling behind it this time. 

 

Muraki's grey eyes had a strange look in them. His friend's smile grew perhaps slightly sad at that.

 

Night had finally arrived and the spacious living room was so dark that Muraki could only see the faint outline of his friend and his one amber eye. Soon, he could see nothing.

 

Sakaki entered the room and discretely began to switch on the lights.

 

"No. Leave them." Muraki's voice was sharp.

 

His butler turned around. "Has your guest left, master?"

 

There was no one else in the living room besides the owner of the house. 

 

His master was utterly still. His pale hair obscuring half his face and the darkness veiled the other half. 

 

"Leave them." Muraki's voice was calm and soft. "For a while longer."

 

"Yes, of course." Sakaki turned off the two lights he'd managed to switch on and left the room. There were times when his master liked to be left alone.

 

* * *

 

There was the persistent sound of someone knocking on his door. When it seemed obvious that the person wouldn't leave, he got up and opened it.

 

He blinked at the bright picture before him.

 

A man dressed entirely in white, a white suit and a long white coat, was standing on his doorstep. He was also holding a large bouquet of roses in his hand. 

 

"Sumeragi Subaru-san?" His voice was pleasant and a smile accompanied his words.

 

He stuttered in mild confusion. "Y-yes. You are?"

 

"I'm so glad I got the right address." The man practically pushed the flowers into his hands and swept into the apartment.

 

Subaru closed the door and stepped toward the man. The man who was curiously eyeing his apartment.

 

"I.. don't think I know you."

 

The man seemed to have a smile painted on his face because he kept smiling that unnerving smile. 

 

"A friend sent me to check on you." 

 

Somehow Subaru couldn't imagine this man being acquainted with any of the Seals. "A friend? Who?"

 

"Sakurazuka Seishirou. I believe you're intimately acquainted with him?" The trailing end of the answer was merely for effect. The light dancing in the man's eyes showed how amused he was by the situation.

 

Anger welled in Subaru's chest. "That's not funny. Who sent you?" 

 

"I assure you he sent me."

 

Subaru's mismatched eyes narrowed and his tone had a deadly quiet quality to it. "He couldn't have. He died. I should know. I killed him." 

 

He expected surprise, shock, anger, or loathing. But his unexpected visitor had a contemplative look on his face, he seemed to be viewing Subaru in a new light.

 

"I had wondered... He wouldn't have allowed just anyone to give him his death."

 

Wasn't this a day for revelations, Subaru's mind commented sarcastically. "How could he have sent you? He's dead." Tears suffocated the words even if they had not appeared in the mismatched eyes of the Sumeragi.

 

"Come now, Sumeragi-san. You're an onmyouji, are you not? The answer is not so difficult."

 

A gasp. "He..."

 

"And he was right. You look terrible if you'll pardon me saying so."

 

He supposed he did. A wrinkled shirt and pants, wrinkled eyes, and a wrinkled heart.

 

"Go take a hot shower, Sumeragi-san. I'll wait for you." Gentleness, whether genuine or false, entered into the man's cold features.

 

Subaru hesitated, but a shower might help his mind wake up from the comfortable depression it had remained in since that day.

 

When he walked back into his small living room, there was tea brewing. 

 

"I'm sorry. I should have offered you something." He began to blush.

 

"It's quite all right. You haven't been yourself lately." The man was seated on one of Subaru's fold up chairs.

 

Subaru sat opposite him on his white, worn sofa. A small towel was around his neck, his hair still dripped from his impromptu shower. He was presented with a cup of hot tea and for a moment he curled his hands around it, letting the warmth seep into him while he composed his thoughts. 

 

He raised his eyes and found the man staring at him with an absent smile.

 

"What..?" He noticed that for some reason, the man had his hair styled as to cover half his face. Was there a scar or some disfigurement?

 

"Forgive me. I was just telling myself that I can see now why he chose you."

 

"Did you know him well?" Subaru thought to begin with a simple question. How odd. He'd never thought of the Sakurazukamori as a man with friends.

 

"Fairly well. Or rather, as much as an intensely private man like Sakurazuka-san allows himself to be known." 

 

"Oh? How long?" He couldn't think of a way to appear polite and less eager. Here was a man who could tell him about Seishirou, tell him all the things he'd always wanted to know.

 

"Since high school, when I transferred to his school. Unfortunately, I was there for only one semester. Afterwards, we met whenever we could. It wasn't often with our busy schedules."

 

Subaru listened to the funny tales, strange incidents, and little tidbits of Seishirou's young life that the man continued to talk about. It was strange to be able to share Seishirou with someone. Someone who didn't think ill of him. Subaru felt relaxed and strangely cathartic........

 

............... He blinked and pushed himself up. 

 

The man was still sitting in front of him, but was arranging plastic bottles on the small table that sat to his left.

 

"Oh, you're awake," he said cheerfully.

 

Subaru blinked sleepy eyes. "Did I-"

 

"You fell asleep while I was talking. Understandable. You haven't been sleeping lately."

 

The younger man blushed furiously. "I'm sorry. That was rude of me." 

 

"It's all right." The other man kept taking bottles out of his coat. Subaru realized that the man had taken off his coat in the meantime; he wore white tailored trousers, an ivory shirt, and a pale grey tie.

 

It was probably wise to ask what was in those bottles, so Subaru did.

 

"Sleeping pills, mild sedatives, vitamins, and something for your migraine." The man explained then stood up.

 

"How did you know I had migraines?" Subaru stood up too, fully awake now, 

 

"You've been blinking and frowning as if you were in pain since I arrived, Sumeragi-san. And you've only recently lost that eye. It takes a while to become accustomed to the strain of having only one seeing eye." A quick smile followed the explanation. "I'm a doctor. You don't have to worry about the prescriptions." 

 

The man gathered his coat and turned to leave.

 

"Um, thank you for coming. I appreciate it." 

 

There was a calculating look on the doctor's face. "You should take better care of yourself. Causing worry for departed spirits is impolite, don't you think?"

 

Subaru was slightly taken aback by the complete lack of emotion on the man's face. 

 

_Of course. This is Seishirou's friend. What did you think he'd be like?_

 

Perhaps it was the lack of pity or understanding in those grey eyes that made Subaru confess the truth. 

 

"I.. miss him." His voice was so low, it was a whisper. He blinked rapidly and wouldn't meet the doctor's eyes.

 

"I understand. But he wouldn't have wanted you to grieve. He wanted you to _live._ "

 

Subaru stared and watched the man walk out of his apartment.

 

He stood for a while. Motionless, emotionless, and hollow in the middle of the small apartment he called home. Tomorrow, he thought, he would move out and find a nicer place to stay. Maybe he would finally answer those calls Seishirou's lawyer had left on his answering machine.

 

Tomorrow, he'd get on with his life like Seishirou wanted.

 

Tonight.. tonight he felt like crying.

 

He locked the front door and walked into his bedroom. The door closed after him with a quiet click.

 

* * *

 

Dawn was just touching the sky with her rosy fingers when Subaru woke up. His head hurt and his eyes were red and swollen. He wandered into the kitchen and saw a green bottle with flowers arranged tastefully in it standing alone on the counter.

 

He'd completely forgotten about the roses the man had brought. He drew closer and touched one petal.

 

_So soft.._

 

He remembered. Tea roses they were called. Seishirou had often bought them for him when he learned Subaru liked them. The pink and yellow petals were beautiful and looked more exotic than the traditional red of roses.

 

_How did he know? Did Seishirou tell him?_ The thought didn't bring as much pain as Subaru expected it would. Instead it was a slow, almost delicious ache that blossomed in his heart and made his chest constrict.

 

He hadn't asked the man for his name, though he was undoubtedly an interesting character to meet. Somehow, it hadn't seemed important. He remembered, though, the man's last words.

 

_"Sumeragi-san, you're an onmyouji. Surely you know that death is not the end."_

 

Subaru looked to the right, to the balcony's glass doors, where the sun was just appearing from behind the horizon. Faint golden light lit up the blue morning sky.

 

_I'll live.. if that's what you want me to. But I'll see you soon, Seishirou-san._

 

"I promise," he murmured softly to himself and to his love. 

 

With one rose in his hand, he sat down on the sofa and watched the sun rise. A new day was beginning.

 

~ End ~

_____________________

Author's Note:

For an explanation of how Muraki and Seishirou became friends, check my story "The Red Rose and The Pink Sakura".

**Author's Note:**

> For an explanation of how Muraki and Seishirou became friends, check my story "The Red Rose and The Pink Sakura".


End file.
